Masked attackers blew up the Egyptian pipeline which supplies Israel and Jordan with natural gas early on Sunday, state-run company GASCO has announced. The tenth attack on the pipeline since the beginning of the year targeted the Sabeel region, south of the Egyptian city of Arish in the North Sinai Governorate.
Two IEDs were planted 50 meters apart.
The last attack on the pipeline occurred on 28 November. Egyptian authorities have not released details of their investigations into the earlier nine attacks, only commenting that they were carried out by masked assailants using the same technique each time.
The pipeline has been under maintenance and inoperative since the November explosion, Magdy Tawfik, GASCO's director, said in a statement quoted by state-run news agency MENA.
Tawfik said the explosion occurred 15 km from Arish and did not leave any casualties.
Egyptian news reports have said attackers tend to use a four-wheel drive vehicle, enter a gas station, force out workers and plant explosives under the pipes before detonating them with remote control devices.
Egypt's 20-year gas deal with Israel, signed during the Mubarak era, is unpopular with many Egyptians.
Egyptian natural gas supplies to both Israel and Jordan have dropped sharply due to recurrent interruption caused by the explosions. Since the November attack, neither Jordan nor Israel had declared the resumption of supplies through the pipeline.
